Woman who posed as a police officer to stop her ex boyfriend from dating is jailed

It doesn't matter how much of a good person you are, jealousy and envy are feelings that simply can't be avoided. What we can do is control is how we deal with that feeling. Maybe you think your boyfriend is hanging out with that girl a bit too much, or maybe your ex-girlfriend keeps posting photos of herself with her new boyfriend - but there are productive, positive ways to respond to these things.

More than anything, the most important thing is that you don't overreact, as you will likely end up saying or doing something you will regret. We all fail to uphold this standard now and then, but most of the time the most this amounts to is a terrible argument or some awkwardness.

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Yet in the case of Lauren Adderley, she got jail time instead. As the ultimate example of what not to do after a break-up, this jealous ex-girlfriend used internet trickery to convince her former boyfriend he was under a police investigation. And all this was done to keep him away from other girls.

Adderley, a 21-year-old of Shropshire, England, used a variety of fake email addresses and social media profiles to prevent Mitchell Lloyd, 22, that he was under a strict curfew. They'd had a brief sexual relationship in September 2014, which ended two months later. It was at this point that she told him that she had previously been a victim of a crime and asked him to give evidence to an officer.

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This officer was 'Robert Hay', a fictitious officer from a fake email address. Posing as two other officers from other email addresses, she made him believe he was under a strict curfew and would have to pay hefty fines if he didn't follow certain rules, such as avoiding certain people and places. She also pretended to be her own friends, chastising him when he attempted to start up new relationships with other women.

This happened between December 2014 and February 2017, until Mitchell eventually confided in his colleagues, who convinced him to go to the police directly. At Shrewsbury Crown Court, Recorder Peter Rouch said:

"I do not know what was going through your mind in December 2014 but at that time you decided to deliberately adopt the persona of a police officer to contact Mitchell Lloyd. At that time, he did not want a relationship with you. For two years you controlled Mitchell Lloyd's life, to the extent that you told him where he could go and who he could go out with.

"He believed that he was being sent emails by genuine police officers, and that these were real demands that he had to follow. These are serious crimes, as he could not live his life properly during the two years that you committed these offences.

"You did that for your own benefit, whatever that may have been."

Her defence made a plea based on the fact that the offences began when she was only 18, as well as the fact that she has no previous convictions. Adderley took full responsibility for what she did, and was sentenced to prison for nine months.